Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) is a variant of a liquid crystal display (LCD) that uses thin-film transistor (TFT) technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. Currently, a TFT-LCD is often formed by a color filter plate and an array substrate arranged opposite to the color filter plate, and the color filter plate enables color display on the TFT-LCD. With the continuous development of LCD technology, PPI (Pixel per Inch) of the TFT-LCD becomes higher and higher and, meanwhile, the pixel size becomes smaller and smaller. To maintain a uniform surface pressure in the TFT-LCD under a vertical pressure, it is highly desired that each sub-pixel corresponds to one photo spacer (PS).
FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional color filter plate. As shown in FIG. 1, the color filter plate 100 includes a substrate 11, a black matrix 12 formed on the substrate 11, a color barrier layer 13 formed on the black matrix 12, a protective layer 14 formed on the black matrix 12 and the color barrier layer 13, and a plurality of photo spacers 151. In particular, the color barrier layer 13 further includes a plurality of red color barriers 131, a plurality of green color barriers 132 and a plurality of blue color barriers 133. The photo spacers 151 are formed through etching an entire photo spacer material layer, in which etchers, for example, etching solution, may etch the photo spacer material layer from top to bottom, and then to sidewalls.
Because the pixel size of the TFT-LCD with a high PPI is substantially small, the gap or the distance between adjacent photo spacers 151 is small, and the photo spacer material within the gap may not be fully exposed to the etching solution. Thus, the etching speed in the gap between adjacent photo spacers 151 is slower than the other areas in the photo spacer material layer, and the lower parts of adjacent photo spacers 151 may be in contact with each other. During the subsequent fabrication process of the TFT-LCD, e.g., forming a TFT-LCD cell, the diffusivity of liquid crystal molecules may be degraded, resulting cell bubbles in the TFT-LCD cell. Further, with such photo spacers 151, light leakage tends to occur in an alignment rubbing process.
The disclosed color filter plate and the fabrication techniques thereof, and the corresponding display panel are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.